i'm not too up on current guitarists or even the names of older guitarists but here a few riffs that float my boat: the riff on 'no woman no cry'.... spinetingling John squire on 'I am the Ressurection' Ian Browns guitarist on anything from 'Music of the Spheres' especially 'Forever and a day' (think his name is Ibraham) Riff on 'take me out' by Franz Ferdinand (prob best thing they have) Donal Lunny or is it Declan Sinnot? on 'One Last Cold Kiss'..... and countless others that are not springin to mind

I think Bes from Republic Of Loose is a top class guitarist....always amazing live.

Clive Barnes Lyndsay Buckingham

yeah yer man from republic of loose is top class alright without sounding too ignorant, who are Clive Barnes and Lindsay Buckingham?

Clive Barnes is excellent, check out this review of his last album: http://www.cluas.com/music/albums/clive_barnes.htm

Funny, its not something I really think about these days. If you had asked me 10 years ago I would have been able to immediately list off my faves, but now, unlike in my teens, I'm no longer really interested in "guitar heroes" who can shred. There was a time I thought Joe Satriani was good for goodness sake! That doesn't mean I no longer appreciate great guitar playing, just that I appreciate a wider picture than I did in my teens, so after much consideration my present day guitar heroes would be: Kevin Shields - Lost in Translation soundtrack proved he has still got it, even if the experimentation isn't quite as aggressive as the MBV days. Mike Stroud (Ratatat) - Following Kevin Shields lead in blurring the lines between computers and guitars without actually sounding like MBV, opting to riff it up like Deep Purple instead. Dean Wareham/Sean Eden - Luna may now be sadly defunct, but I'm sure these guys will pop up again elsewhere (Dean Wareham has already made a Dean and Britta record) David Rawlings (Gillian Welchs' sidekick) - Beautiful clarity of sound, incredible subtlety and understanding of tone. Lee Ranaldo/Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) - Even Kevin Shields is indebted to these guys Will Seargeant (Echo And The Bunnymen) - Yep, Echo and the Bunnymen are still going, even if no one seems to notice. Billy Corgan - The indie Van Halen, I'm not holding my breath about the solo album though. The Edge - not keen on the U2 stuff of late, but "The Fly" and "Mysterious Ways" are perfect, actually the whole of Achtung Baby is perfect, but those stand out as the guitar anthems. The heavily treated guitar work on Zooropa and Passengers is amazing too, not that you'd immediately recognize it was actually a guitar you were hearing. Someone was obviously listening to MBV! Declan Murphy (The 4ofUs) - Maybe not the "coolest" band around but Declan is probably one of the best guitarists in Ireland. Just brilliant live, he's really funky and totally rocks out. Makes you wonder why the recent albums are such laid back affairs. Er right, I think thats everybody. Past masters would include: Sterling Morrison, Buddy Holly, Tom Verlaine, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Hendrix (obviously!) amd Johnny Ramone.

Yep, nick Zinner's fairly special alright. I like how ragged Jack White can be. Elliott Smith was an incredible guitarist (and incredible everything else too).

john fahey f**king legend.

Piere Bensusan - amazing accoustic/classical guitarist Dave Mathews Your man from rage against the machine/audioslave Billy Corgan Eric Clapton Rodrigo Y Gabriel

"Your man from rage against the machine/audioslave" = Tom Morrello Not sure about Dave Mathews!?

Zakk Wylde that gigs with Ozzy osbourne is amazing.He picks every note unlike 99% of guitarists.I dont like the band but John Frusciante of the chilli peppers is an excellent guitarist.Some of the stuff he plays is really simple but it sounds deadly much like the edges stuff.

Louis Stewart. One of the world's top jazz guitarists. Usually plays in Dublin at least once a month. Poetry in motion.

the chap on three string bass in lightning bolt blew the hair outta my ears. f**king excellent

and on the other end of things devendra banhart, jack rose, jim o rourke , panda bear, iron and wine, khonnor and so many others all using the guitar to wondedrful ends

Pete Townshend, back in the day - the best rhythm guitarist there ever was - listen to Who's Next or Tommy or Quadrophenia - pure genius. John Martyn - also genuis - check out Solid Air. Simon Good - play on Ronan O'Snodaighs forst album - bloody amazing

Right theres no metal representation here so here s my lot from people who've new material out in the past 5 years only Dimebag (R.I.P.)- all skitting aside about what you thought of Pantera's music (most people though it was silly noise, be honest!), the guy lifted use of the whammy pedal out of novelty and IMO it still hasnt been used as effectivly in anything I've heard outside of RATM. Jerry Cantrell - Class, if youre familiar with degradation trip theres no need to go on. Kirk Hammet - St. Anger was poor but he gets in for Kill 'Em All. James Hetfield - for inventing modern heavy rythym playing with Lars Ulrich's bass drum work(RE the end of "One".) Chimara's Guitar players - I'm way too lazy to read the sleeve beyond tracklistings unless there's crazy solos but I love it. Funeral For A Friend's Guitar players- as above. Dave Mustaine - Whats to be said...just great technical ability and manual dexterity. Mynci or whatever the guys from Korn are called- again, innovators, not great players but mastered the art of dropping to low G. Plus live theyre as good as the CD(...thats if you think the CD is good I suppose). Buzz from Melvins/Fantomas Theres some other legends unrealted to metal whom I love, Buster B Jones is well worth checking out for anyone who thinks they know what one acoustic guitar sounds like on its own. I dont know where he is on the web but be careful you dont commit guitaricide on your axe after hearing the unaccompanied pieces which sound like 4 players at once. Some say he's basically just a banjo player playing a guitar, I say shut up to them! haha. Same goes for Tony Rice. Paul Brady is a very under-rated guitar player, check out Arthur McBride with him on acoustic and possibly Donal Lunny on Bazouke (spelling is probably off there, apologies) Of the remaining current guys, I am not a Blur fan but always thought Graham Coxon is a very unique and innovative player- for a guy who cant really play "properly", i.e. he doesnt use blues scales! hahaha! John Frusciante cos he can play better than he communicates with words. Noel Gallagher for making guitar playnig popular again when dance was gonna make everyone buy mixing desks! Most of all though, Dan and Justin Hawkins for bringing back the solos with added posing in lycra! Funny but the art of guitars solo's seems a bit redundant these days have to put an opinion in on the Edge- lads, to me, he plays the delay pedal very well, not the guitar! of course he also plays second fiddle to BonoEgoGod! (Sorry just a joke, I know I know, U2 are good) and Josh Homme is a very average player, a great writer and I love all his work, but theres nothing he does that many lads I've seen around could'nt do better.

Will do Mully, if I can get my hands on the Mary Janes, can you still get their albums?

Joe Satriani- Alien Love Secrets First off what a name for an album. But the man can make a guitar sound like a horse. Fookin legend and also a complete w\anker (on the geetar) in the same breath. (Never buy the album jus hav alook at the cover)

Make a guitar like a horse? Is there something I'm missing here?

At the moment: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Mars Volta, At the drive-in Matt Bellemy - Muse Russell Lissak - Bloc Party Claudio Sanchez - Coheed and Cambria Pete Doherty - Babyshambles Graham Coxon (solo) Mark Kozelek - Sun Kil Moon Wayne Murray - The Honeymoon

I'd definitely have to agree with John Martyn. Jake Burns from the stiff little fingers can be very good, particularly on Johnny was. Probably my 2 favourite that I can think of right now. You can't argue with the abilities of Rodrigo y gabriella either. I'm sure a s**t load more will come flooding back to me when I leave this computer

Robert Randolph - by a long shot Lyndsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) Peter Green (ex Fleetwood Mac) "the bloke from the republic of loose" - he's really class, ithink a bit of a whiz to be honest, ahead of the general possy

Few more to add to the mix: Robert Johnson Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) Eric Clapton B.B. King John Lee Hooker Gary Moore Chris Rea Chuck Berry Rodrigo Y Gabriela Slash Mike Errico Robbie Robertson The Edge John Fogerty Little Steven (or Silvo to all you Soprano's lovin folk) Wes Borland (Ex Limp Biscuit, even though I'm not a fan of theirs) And guitarists from: Wilco Redneck Manifesto Heartbreakers Dirty Three Steely Dan